Everyone has heard the jokes about attending a liberal arts school, but now there's even a class that teaches students how to be punk.
This is Fort Lewis College’s first year providing students with the opportunity to take a punk history class as their first year launch.
Through this course, first year students are able to learn music and culture, while finding the value punk can have on their school life.
To be able to offer the full punk experience, there has to be a true punkster teaching the class. English professor, Meagan Dermondy, and faculty member in charge of the punk FYL, suggested the idea to create this launch for last fall semester.
Dermondy finds worth in bringing this subculture to the classroom because punk brings an unique set of skills for students' success.
“It's one thing to know how to study. It's another thing to feel like you belong,” she said.
This class gives students the tools for both academic and socio-emotional success through punk, she said.
Karissa Rocha-Atamas, a freshman-political science major, was one of the students who chose to take this course.
This was because she was interested in learning more about the music, culture, and history, she said.
Also taking this opportunity instead of following the curated school curriculum, was a pretty punk choice itself, she said.
Santana Naranjo, a freshman adventure education student, is a student who wishes she had been able to take this course, but the class was full by the time she heard about it.
She has been involved in the punk scene for a few years now, she said.
To her, this community is a space to meet people with shared values, ethics, and ideas. As well as a place to connect through music “you can really have a good relationship with someone through music,” Naranjo said.
Professor Dermondy said she hoped for her students to gain a community, and a support system by getting them into this culture.
During challenging periods what students need is an outlet, something that gives them joy, Dermondy said.
They also need something that makes them question the challenges, world and situations around them, she said. Punk serves both of these purposes.
To understand the community of this scene, an important role is those who physically get the people together, the bands.
Vanessa Bohaty, the vocalist for the band Acid Wrench, said she finds value in creating an experience for people that promotes honesty, creativity, boldness and connection.
This is a community that creates a safe space, creates inclusivity, and creates the opportunity for people to stand up and speak their truth, she said.
With this class, students gained the habit of not just accepting norms, but made them question where they come from, and why they are set in place, Rocha-Atamas said.
“I’m always trying to educate myself as much as I can,” they said.
Besides all this, students don't actually need to take a class to be punk.
Professor Dermondy struggled with the idea of calling herself punk during her teenage years, in fear she wasn't doing it the correct way.
Once in college, she broke out of that mentality, and realized there isn't a right or wrong way to be punk, she said.
Naranjo agreed with this sentiment, as people can or cannot look punk, and still be it as long as they have the morals.
“If you have the same beliefs as someone who is punk, or someone that identifies as punk, then, you can consider yourself punk,” Naranjo said.
For Dermondy, there was the worry that this course would be seen as not academic. When talking about punk in the classroom, compromise is the biggest thing, she said.
Punk isn’t just about not following rules and resisting authority, she said.
“It's about doing it yourself, and doing it wrong, doing it stupid,” she said.
The purpose of this class, and punk itself, is to take advantage of positions to follow passions, she said.
For people to be willing to stand up for what they believe in, even if they do it badly at first, the trick is to not be cowardly about it, she said.
For students, this means actively questioning and challenging social norms, while being in an academic environment, she said.
Bohaty agrees that bringing this conversation into the classroom will help students to surround themselves with people who encourage them to thrive. Especially during college, the sooner students find their people, the better equipped they'll be to face the world, Bohaty said.
“Find your people and hold them tight,” Bohaty said.
At Fort Lewis, there are many different experiences with punk. Being a very diverse campus, there's a lot of different styles to be seen, so students experience being punk here can vary.
In Naranjos experience, the people in classrooms will be a make or break factor.
Students will either creating a really good or really bad environment to be in for a person who challenges social norms, Naranjo said.
Punk can also be an outlet for students.
For Naranjo, having a community where she is accepted makes her feel seen.
Rocha-Atamas described it as an experience for people to act freely and not be judged.
Not only mentally, physically the scene is a “full release of energy,” they said. An opportunity for people to show their physical expression at its fullest, they said.
Punk is “sensory overload”, said Dermondy.
For Bohaty, the light, the music, the bodies moving against each other and the high energy, makes this a very liberating experience.
Through punk, she is able to freely share her thoughts and her poetry, she said.
“I know someone out there relates,” Bohaty said. “I know someone out there feels inspired to create.”